


Brother, My Brother

by Shane_for_Wax



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 07:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6648760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was written many months prior to the first season of the Twelfth Dotor's reign and thus basically means I predicted the Master would come back. But this is a slight AU where the Master <i>does</i> take the Doctor up on his offer to travel with him in the TARDIS during the Last of the Time Lords and this is their first conversation after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brother, My Brother

"You never did say why exactly you picked me," the voice was soft, almost resigned to the owner's situation.  

"When?" the other voice was just as soft, with a tinge of curiosity.

"What d'you mean 'when'?"

"I mean, when as in which time. Before you tried to kill me or after?"

There was a long pause. The Master was not entirely sure how to answer. 

"Indulge me, why not  _both_?" he finally replied. There was a slight jingle as the cuffs he wore shifted when he did. He didn't like this arrangement at all. He especially hadn't liked it when the Doctor had told him if he behaved for a century or two he could get the cuffs off. 

"Back on Gallifrey, I picked you because you were my equal. In everything. Except intelligence. You always excelled where I failed. In school, wherever. Playing with you by your father's estate was always the highlight of my day as a child," the Doctor said. He peered at his long time friend in the low lights of the area of the TARDIS they had come to rest in.

The last two Time Lords weren't sitting in the cockpit of the TARDIS, but rather a comfy room with a couch and a few chairs and a fireplace as well. Just don't ask how the fireplace works in the TARDIS without puffing smoke everywhere.

"And the second time?" the Master felt he already knew. 

"Because it was just--"

"--The two of us left."

"Yes and no. You never stopped being my friend, Koschei. _Never_. Maybe you stopped being my _best_ friend, but you never stopped being my friend. But you being the only one left? Out of everyone I ever knew? That has some bearing on all this, I won't lie to you about that."

The Master's gaze dropped. He stared at his hands. They didn't even seem like his hands anymore. He had been regenerated and resurrected so much he wasn't sure who he was anymore sometimes. 

"You left me, Theta.  _You left me._ And you never act like you remember that you abandoned me not the other way around."

It was the Doctor's turn to be silent for a time. There was a calm fury in the words that left his friend's mouth. But there was pain and bitterness, too. Betrayal was something the Master felt when he thought of the Doctor leaving Gallifrey and not telling him or warning him about what was going to happen to their home. 

"I didn't know. I'm sorry. If I had known..."

"Don't start. It's a bit too late for that. Way too late for your stupid apologies," the Master scoffed. "' _I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry',"_ he mocked the other Time Lord.

"Yeah, but I  _am_  sorry. I never did it deliberately. I never would have. You were the best, best friend I ever had. You were my  _brother_." 

"Oh yes, the great Theta Sigma with his bumbling little brother Koschei. Amazing Theta Sigma who was always cleaning up poor Koschei's messes," the Master sneered. "And we all know you have an actual brother so save it."

"My older brother Irving? He's gone, too,  _remember?_ " the Doctor shot back. The Master didn't have a retort for that. 

"'Sides, he was a self-serving arse," the Doctor muttered so softly for a moment the Master thought he had dreamt it up. 

Slowly, the Master brought his hands to his face. If one were to look at him just at that moment they might think he was crying. Instead his index fingers were pressing firm into his temples. The drumming was always there, right on the edge of hearing. Except during the fight with Rassilon. It had been oh so loud then. 

The Master heard the distinct sound of the Doctor's sneakers whispering on the carpet that had been laid out in the room. Some old carpet from some planet that he doubted even the Doctor remembered buying and putting in the TARDIS. It wasn't ugly to look at, though, he'd give it that. 

The Doctor crouched in front of the other Time Lord. The Master's hands dropped from his face and he stared at the only other Time Lord in existence. Slowly the Doctor reached out, pressing index, middle, and ring fingertips into the Master's temples. His eyes closed. 

Their minds connected and for a time the Doctor helped to muffle the drumming. The constant drumming. 

A silent sob wracked the Master's body. It was so  _beautiful_ not to hear the same four beats in quick succession. 

"I have you, brother. And I'm not letting go. I'm not leaving. Not again. Remember that. You have me. And you will for the rest of my lifespan."

The Master swallowed the swell of emotion in his chest and throat. He didn't allow himself to cry. He couldn't cry. He  _wouldn't_. His head, still clear of the drumming for the moment, dropped to the Doctor's shoulder.

And Koschei simply allowed Theta Sigma to hold him. To allow the presence of the only other Time Lord in existence to wash over him. To drink in the short time where his mind was silent for once. 

And Theta Sigma kept a firm hold on Koschei. To cover the other with his presence like a thick blanket. To drink in the time where they weren't fighting. When they were back to being the best friends-- the brothers-- they had been so many centuries ago. 

_Our most bitter enemies are our own kith and kin._


End file.
